NEW YORK—Prevent Blindness has declared September Sports Eye Safety Month to help educate the public on the importance of wearing the proper eye protection while playing sports. Annual data from Prevent Blindness shows that there were more than 26,000 sports-related eye injuries treated in the U.S. last year. The new data also showed that the category of “non-powder guns, darts, arrows and slingshots” had the overall highest rate of eye injuries for the previous year.

Prevent Blindness strongly recommends that athletes of any age wear protective eyewear when participating in sports, and reminds the public that prescription glasses, sunglasses and even occupational safety glasses do not provide adequate eye protection. The organization offers a sports eye safety toolkit for ECPs online, too.

With September just kicking off, we’re taking a look at how some ECPs are making their patients aware of the importance of sports eye safety this month.

The team at Berkeley Eye Center in Texas reminded students and parents to prioritize eye safety during school sports season. Image via berkeleyeyecenter on Instagram


Preserve Vision Florida kicked the month of September off with a reminder about Sports Eye Safety Month. Image via preservevisionflorida on Instagram


Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego shared injury prevention tips from AAO. Image via shileyeye on Instagram


At the end of August, the team at Lumen Eye Center in Gainesville, Virginia, shared a sweet patient who picked up safety glasses for his upcoming football season. Image via lumeneyecenter on Instagram


On Salt Spring Island, in Canada, the Salt Spring Eyecare team shared a pretty graphic to remind patients about Sports Eye Safety Month. Image via saltspringeyecare on Instagram